Ceasefire monitoring committee to hold first meeting Friday

A U.S.-led committee that is supposed to monitor the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel will hold its first meeting Friday, an informed source told local al-Joumhouria newspaper.

The committee also includes France, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL), Lebanon, and Israel.

Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers alongside senior U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein will co-chair the committee. Brigadier General Edgar Lawandos, commander of the southern Litani sector in the Lebanese army, will represent Lebanon, and General Guillaume Ponchin will represent France.

Israeli forces carried out several new drone and artillery strikes in Lebanon on Tuesday, including a deadly strike that the Health Ministry and state media said killed one person, further shaking a tenuous ceasefire meant to end more than a year of fighting with Hezbollah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed keep striking “with an iron fist” against perceived Hezbollah violations of the truce. His defense minister warned that if the ceasefire collapses, Israel will target not just Hezbollah but the Lebanese state — an expansion of Israel’s campaign.

Since the two-month ceasefire in Lebanon began last Wednesday, the U.S.- and French-brokered deal has been rattled by near daily Israeli attacks, although Israel has been vague about the purported Hezbollah violations that prompted them.

On Monday, it was shaken by its biggest test yet. Hezbollah fired two projectiles toward an Israeli-occupied border zone, its first volley since the ceasefire began, saying it was a "warning" in response to Israel’s violations. Israel responded with its heaviest barrage of the past week, killing 10 people.

After the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hezbollah of a "serious violation" and vowed to "respond forcefully". Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also vowed a "harsh response".

Al-Joumhouria said that the U.S. had reportedly intervened Monday, preventing Israel from harshly responding to Hezbollah's warning attack on Shebaa, which could have been a strike in the heart of the capital Beirut.

On Tuesday, drone strikes hit four places in southern Lebanon, one of them killing a person in the Shebaa Farms. With Tuesday’s death, Israeli strikes since the ceasefire began have killed at least 15 people.